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Monday, September 28, 2015

Molding and Creative PaperClay®

Hi all! A quick tutorial on molds and Creative PaperClay®. Do you have a piece in your stash that you wish you could "clone". Well I certainly do. It is a cross that I found in Mexico a number of years ago.

I have searched all over the internet in hopes that I could find more or discover the artist who created it with absolutely no luck. After exhausting all possibilities, I decided to create a mold of the piece to use.
(NOTE: Never EVER make a mold of a copyrighted product or an original piece that can be attributed to a specific artist. To do that would be like stealing.)

Amazing Mold Putty (www.moldputty.com) is my go-to mold making product. There are times I wish I had some in my pocket as I travel around and discover something with a cool texture! This molding material is available at most craft stores. In the box are 2 containers.

To create a mold, mix together equal sized balls (one from each container) between your fingers until the colors are completely blended. Place the blended material on your work surface and flatten slightly with your fingers or a roller. Press the item to be molded into the material (as shown)

and let it set for 20 minutes. Once set, the original piece can be removed and you have a flexible mold to use and reuse.

It is amazing (just like the name suggests) the amount of detail that this product picks up!

Now to create a few reproductions from my mold. I teach art at a Catholic school, so you can imagine the amount of excitement that surrounded Pope Francis' visit to the DC area. I thought how lovely it would be to create a simple pin or bookmark for my fellow teachers. I think this will be the perfect highlight for those creations. Pull a small amount of Creative PaperClay® off the block and roll it into a smooth ball.

Press the ball into the mold making sure it fills all of the crevices.

Then flex the mold to remove your clay piece.

Place it on your work surface and repeat until you have multiple pieces to use.

Now to detail. If you are an impatient sort (like me) you may not want to wait until your pieces are dry to ink or paint or color them. Let me present my "experiment" which shows why you need to wait. For this piece I pulled out a leaf green Ancient Page ink and laid the cross on top of it. I lightly pressed on the back until (I thought) it had picked up the ink. When I turned it over I discovered way too much ink had transferred to the piece and I needed to remove some. Since the clay was not dry, I couldn't wipe it (this would have smooshed the design). Instead I placed a piece of paper over the top and lightly blotted. This removed some ink from the top, but not the the background,,,still, an interesting look.

I cut away the excess clay and plan to detail the trunk with markers or colored pencils after it dries completely.
I tried one more time (because that is what I do) with another color of ink. This time I used a lighter touch and the background remained light colored while the raised portions picked up the ink and "POPPED".

Again I cut away the excess clay and set it aside to dry.

NOTE: If desired, the molded components can be placed into the oven at 275 degrees to quick set. it will not completely dry the components, but will make them a bit more easy to detail without the danger of smooshing and having to start again.

Pieces cut away can be reused. However, be careful of them starting to airdry (after all, this is AirDry clay). As you can see from this photo, the molded piece has a very distinct crack across the top.

To get around this possible problem, keep a damp paper towel handy and wrap any cut away or excess clay up immediately. The paper towel will keep the clay moist and help you avoid nasty cracks & crevices.

I plan to use the crosses for pins or bookmarks, but they would also be beautiful on card fronts or as bag ties. I hope you have enjoyed this intro to molds and Creative PaperClay® Have fun and experiment.